By Jon Chesto and Jeremy C. Fox, Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent
March 8, 2021
The Biden administration on Monday announced the completion of an environmental review of Vineyard Wind, a crucial step toward the long-delayed $2.8 billion offshore project becoming the nation’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s final environmental impact statement was released a little over a month after the agency’s new director, Amanda Lefton, pledged to conduct a “robust and timely” review of Vineyard Wind, picking up where the permitting process left off in December.
Advocates of renewable energy and lawmakers lauded the report, but commercial fishing groups reiterated their opposition to the plan for the wind farm, saying the federal government has not addressed their concerns.
Annie Hawkins, executive director of the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, said there hasn’t been enough opportunity for people in the fishing industry and the public to become informed and weigh in on the proposal.
“Fishermen care about what the environmental impacts are going to be, and the impacts to their businesses, and to fish stocks, and to the ecosystem at large,” Hawkins said. “And they care about being engaged in the project so that they can bring their input, their knowledge to create acceptable means of mitigation. That just hasn’t happened.”